Daily Ticker

Citizens United Considering Suing the Government Over Obamacare

And Citizens United now says it's prepared to sue the government. “A small organization took on the entire weight of the federal government and was able to prevail,” says president David Bossie, referring to their successful suit over campaign financing in 2010 (that suit boosted the influence of SuperPacs). He tells The Daily Ticker that health care reform is a similar issue and he expects “many more lawsuits” fighting the Affordable Care Act.

Asked whether Citizens United would sue the government on the issue, Bossie says, “We absolutely would if we felt there was an opportunity and that we had standing. We’re studying it.”

The president himself may have opened the door to those challenges.

Weeks ago President Obama announced a one-year delay in the mandate for larger employers to provide health insurance for workers, or face penalties. Those companies, with 50 workers or more, now have until 2015, instead of 2014, to provide insurance coverage.

Business leaders welcomed the grace period and most Democrats and liberal groups said little. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy expert, wrote in The New York Times that the delay will have little impact on employees because those working for big employers likely already have coverage and those who don’t can still get it from the health care exchanges that start early next year.

But now some Republicans and conservative groups are saying the delay is too one-sided and the law’s requirement should be delayed for employees as well.

“Is it fair for the president to give American businesses an exemption from the health law’s mandates without giving the same break to individuals and families across the country?” asked House Speaker John Boehner at a press conference Thursday. “Hell no, it isn’t.” Boehner said he will hold a vote next week in the House to delay both the employer and individual mandates.

Bossie agrees with Boehner on the delay in the employer mandate. “If businesses need one year to figure this out, so do the rest of the American people.” Referring to President Obama, Bossie says, “He kind of arbitrarily just determines what rules he wants to follow and which laws he doesn’t.”